


Yaobikuni

by PlumTea



Series: Horror A La Carte [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cannibalism, Grief/Mourning, M/M, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-23 03:46:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12498028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlumTea/pseuds/PlumTea
Summary: Eat a mermaid's flesh, and you can live forever.One night, Iwaizumi catches a mermaid in a trap.





	Yaobikuni

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sumaru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sumaru/gifts).



> Day 3: A Romantic Dinner For Two  
> blood drinking / love bites / **raw / eating a merm as sushi is probably romantic right** / chest cavity / ribs / gnawing / claws / marrow / **teeth / teeth / more teeth probably**  
>  For [Iwaoi Horror Week!](https://iwaoi-horror-week.tumblr.com/)

The last fish squirms in its death throes, and finally goes still. Four fish dangle next to it, skewered through their mouths, blood dripping into the shallow water below them.

Iwaizumi curls the light blanket around him, and tucks the wrapper of his last protein bar into his pocket. The summer humidity makes his limbs slow, and he wonders if he’s half asleep. Mermaid hunting isn’t the weirdest thing he’s done in his life, but it’s up there.

Back in Miyagi, the stars dotted the evening sky, but there was still a lot of light pollution off Sendai. Here, everything looks just like a painting. His friends never cared about the stars, and neither did he, but it’s the only thing keeping him company these weeks.

A scream echoes across the shore, too distinct to be a bird’s. The trap is snug around a human head and Iwaizumi freezes, thinking he might have caught a late-night swimmer by accident. When he sees long claws raking the rocks and the frantic rise and fall of silvery scales, he knows he’s won his bet.

He hauls the trap up onto land and the mermaid snarls, lips curled back around needle-like fangs, and lunges. He jumps back with a yelp as it thrashes on the rocks, trying to break free and take a chunk out of his leg at the same time.

It lunges again, but Iwaizumi is faster. He crams his spare rolled-up socks into the creature’s mouth as one of its claws rakes a line down his chest. Feathers spill out of his jacket like an open wound and stick to the creature’s wet skin. It writhes, trying to get them off, and Iwaizumi pins down one of its hands. The creature is strong, and bucks against him with the force of the ocean itself, but the chains in Iwaizumi’s hand are stronger. He wraps the chains around the creature’s wrists and grabs a fistful of the creature’s hair.

There’s no way he can fight against something inhuman for too long. He slams the creature’s head against the rocks, once, twice, until it goes limp. When his hands come up bloody, Iwaizumi’s heart jumps, and he checks the creature’s gills on its neck. They’re still fluttering— he didn’t kill it by accident.

He didn’t expect it to be so long. Even this far in, its tail still in the water. With a giant heave, Iwaizumi pulls the rest out of the water, and the coils nearly knock him over. Tail and all, the creature’s nearly three times his height. Not even the large tarp he brought can cover its entire body.

And it’s _heavy_. Iwaizumi has years of sports practice behind him, but the creature is long and cumbersome and its tail doesn’t fold the way he wants it to. It will shred on the pavement if he lets it drag behind him, so he slings it over his shoulder. It still manages to hit the back of his legs. Aren’t mermaids supposed to be the size of regular fish?

Iwaizumi makes it through his front door before the tarp begins thrashing. The massive tail bashes against his legs and he hits the ground. The tarp bucks and the creatures wriggles free, frantic coils knocking into whatever it can find. A lamp comes crashing to the floor, and Iwaizumi has to duck out of the way of a flurry of papers.

His hand finds a kitchen knife on the counter and smashes his body weight into the creature. It matches him just as easily— it may be lean, but it’s powerful. Iwaizumi slams his arm along the creature’s neck and presses down until he feels its gills frantically flapping.

The blade catches the curve of the moon.

Bring it down. Eat a mermaid’s flesh and he’ll live forever. Forever might just be enough.

He looks and sees the remains of a hand peeking out from a white cloth. Two fingers are missing, two are twisted—

_Bring it down._

The knife drives into the wood beside the creature’s neck, the blade barely nicking flesh. Sweat rolls down Iwaizumi’s back as he tries for breath after breath. The handle of the knife leaves imprints on his palm like faint slashes.

Below him, the creature has stopped struggling. Now it glares at him, breathing heavily around the makeshift gag. Waiting.

Iwaizumi might die from suffocation. He thinks of times staring over the net at teams far stronger and more capable than he could ever be, and bites the inside of his cheek. The sting of blood lets him suck in a deep breath.

He can’t do this tonight.

A growl scratches his ears, and he remembers where his arms are. He pulls the tarp back over the creature and hauls it up into his arms again.

There’s an old pond out in the back, thick with algae and untouched in decades, but it’s a lot bigger than his bathtub. With a great heave, he tosses the tarp into the middle of the pond. It lands louder than a boulder.

For a long moment, he wonders if the pond is deeper than he thought, but the creature surfaces and pulls an arm back. Something heavy hurtles past Iwaizumi’s head, and the creature dives back into the depths.

He picks up the length of chain from the grass and shakes the water off it. The exhaustion he’s been keeping back behind a tight wall comes oozing through the cracks, and he feels an itchiness in the roots of his hair and a chill through the humidity. The chain in his hands is freshly bought, but there might be rust forming under his fingers.

* * *

 

Iwaizumi is usually up before dawn to get his ritualistic run in before he has to report to work at seven, but the clock by his bedside reads nine. He spends an hour trying to find an impossible comfortable position, but it feels like his mattress is made of wood.

If he doesn’t eat soon, he’ll get a headache.

Whatever’s closest in his closet is his outfit for the day. He thinks of a hot bath, a lazy day for once, and peace and quiet. The fog in his head is too heavy for any thoughts to crawl out of forgotten corners. Breakfast is some rice and miso soup he made early in the week, and some tea in a Godzilla mug he’s had since he was a kid.

Rocks clatter in his yard. His throat tightens, and uneasiness shivers around his bones. The heat from the cup burns into his palm. It’s nothing, it has to be nothing. Nobody is looking for him, nobody is waiting for him, not in this small town.

He flings open the back doors, but nothing is in the yard. Just the low hanging branches of a withered tree, thick grass, and the wide pond.

“Are you just going to stare like a dead squid?”

The land takes on a more coherent shape as Iwaizumi twists towards the voice. He didn’t see anyone around before, and none of the neighbors’ houses border the pond. He feels the seconds pulling at him when the trees shake and the pile of rotting wood creaks. It’s too early for the cicadas, but he can hear them, waiting.

A glob splatters by his feet and he jumps, thinking a seagull might be passing overhead. It’s too large to be bird droppings, and is strangely cotton and sock-shaped.

He looks at the pond, at the human-faced creature with sea-glass eyes narrowed in annoyance. When he sees the long stretch of silver across the pond, he knows that this isn’t a feverish daydream.

“Now you wake up. You kept me waiting for too long.”

“You— you can talk.”

“Of course I can. Not that you would know, since you introduced yourself by shoving a cloth in my mouth.”

Hearing the events spoken back to him makes him sound like some sort of criminal. “You’re hurt.”

“You did slam my head against the rocks.”

The creature smirks, and the fear gripping Iwaizumi’s chest is overcome with a wave of annoyance. He decides to be blunt, because he’s not letting anyone, mermaid or not, be snippy with him. “Maybe I’ll try it again.”

“I’m sure. So are you keeping me here? Or killing me?”

When he sees the creature is smiling, he pauses and then says roughly, “You think I won’t?”

“If you wanted to kill me, you would’ve done so already.”

“Yeah, well,” he growls, “I’m just fattening you up. I’ll turn you into sashimi.”

“No, you won’t,” the creature says, and slips into the dark of the pond.

* * *

 

Kubo looks too upset to just be collecting her mail. “I just don’t understand.” Her hand shakes slightly as she handles her cane. “I don’t understand at all.” She sighs and turns his way. She’s an old woman, but she’s always lively even when she’s shouting after her grandchildren. “Oh, Iwaizumi. Long day at Nakamura’s offices?”

“Yeah, long day.”

“I hate to trouble you, but you haven’t seen my Pochi-chan, have you? He always wanders around town, but not before the sun goes up. Even if one of the early trucks hurt him, I’d have gotten an apology by now, don’t you think? This town has good people. He always greets you in the mornings, doesn’t he?”

Now that she mentions it, he wasn’t greeted with a daily bark from Kubo’s dog when he left for work. “Yeah, didn’t see him at all.”

Just in case, he checks his backyard, even behind the rotting wood. No dog. His mouth is open before he realizes that he doesn’t know what to call the creature in his pool. “Hey!” When the pond is still, he shouts, “I know you can hear me!”

With a splash, the creature surfaces. “Just because you’ve shoved me into this cramped space doesn’t mean I’m going to come when you ask.”

“You seen a dog?”

“A dog?”

The creature looks blankly at him, and Iwaizumi takes a moment to realize that of course it doesn’t know what a dog is. He pulls up a quick image of a lookalike on his phone, and shoves it forward.

“So that’s a dog.”

“You saw it or not?”

The creature sniffs and runs a tongue across blood-flecked teeth. “Old, tough meat. Chewy and gross.”

Iwaizumi’s hand clenches into a fist before he remembers the creature before him is contained but unchained, made with thin fangs and claws like swords. He throws a rock into the pond, scattering silver into the murky depths before it resurfaces again. It crosses its arms over its chest, and snarls, “I’m hungry, and food’s not going to fall into this dead lake!”

“You— You ate my neighbor’s dog—”

“I’m _hungry_ ,” the creature repeats. “You want to turn me into sashimi? Starve me and you’ll get only bones.”

* * *

 

The plate is piled with sautéed meat, and thick sauce is dripping over the edges. He always makes more than just one meal so he doesn’t have to cook later in the week, but he never thought it would come in handy like this.

“Here.” He tosses a piece into the pond and it lands with a heavy splash.

It bubbles as it sinks, but it’s spat back and hits him in the face.

“You think you can toss me food like some pet?”

Sweet sauce is dripping down his forehead, and the wet piece of meat falls to the grass. He throws it back with all his strength, relishing the _thunk_ it makes when it knocks into the creature’s head. He’s still got it.

It’s twenty paces back to the house, and he puts the platter on the table. He wipes his face with an old towel, and drags the huge draining board he never uses towards the table.

The creature is waiting for him, cautious and dangerous.

“I’ll pull you out. You can try eating me, but then you’ll starve for sure.”

“Someone will come by.”

“Nobody comes by.”

The creature frowns at him, studying his face for lies. It huffs, but raises its claws. “Fine.”

Iwaizumi reaches his arms out. All his fingers stay attached. “Climb on.”

The creature becomes a stretch of silver and Iwaizumi barely has time to react before it crashes into his arms. His knees buckle from the weight, and he just manages to catch himself before he falls face-first into the water.

“I didn’t say _jump_ , crappy mermaid.”

“You caught me, didn’t you?”

Years of training is the only reason he manages. He shifts the awkward bundle in his arms and slowly trudges towards the house.

“Don’t drag my tail.”

“Shut up, you’re huge.”

As soon as the creature spots the massive draining board, it digs its claws into Iwaizumi’s shoulders. “What is that?”

“It’s a draining board. You’d ruin my floor otherwise,” Iwaizumi chokes around stabs of pain. He dumps the bundle in his arms onto the board and stumbles towards the counter. Deep red marks mar his shoulders in the reflection off the window. Long sleeves for work it is, or else his boss is going to ask him if he got mauled by a tiger.

With a grunt, he runs the towel under the tap until it’s puffy and full, but when he turns around, the creature’s tail is poised to strike.

“What are you doing?”

“You want to breathe, right?”

It pauses in thought, and then holds out its arms. Iwaizumi places the towel on the tips of its claws. It wraps the towel around its gills, squishing some of the water out.

Iwaizumi pushes the plate forward, and the creature pauses before devouring the meat. Sauce drips all over its scales and runs between its fingers.

“You got a name?” It’s not dangerous to give a mermaid his true name, so he offers, “I’m Iwaizumi.”

“A stone name for a stone head.”

“Shut up. So?”

It lets out a huff, and drops the plate. The long, thin fins float atop the wood like strands of silk. “You don’t deserve it.”

“Manda, then. You’re no Ghidorah, that’s for sure.”

The creature’s fins bristle. “You dare—”

“Don’t like it? Then tell me.”

“———Oikawa.”

“Alright.”

“You hear my name and all you have to say is ‘alright’?”

“You’re not a god, are you? Even if you act stuck up enough to be one.”

“No.”

“Then it’s just a name.”

“And your name is boring and ugly. Iwa-chan is much better.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Does it matter?” Oikawa shoots back, a grin perking up his lips. “It’s just a name.”

* * *

 

They’re sinking.

His heart is a small lump, and his lungs are on fire. He thought he could reach out this time, but they’re too far away. Just a little more, until his fingers can reach the door. His ears are ringing as he kicks his legs with all he has, but he’s too light, and they’re too heavy.

“Give ‘em back,” he mumbles, bubbles bursting from his mouth as the shadows widen.

“Are you really crying?” A voice echoes all around him, lumbering like the sea. He can’t tell whether it’s close or distant, but there’s a heavy weight on his chest. The sea is squeezing him tight.

“Are you the sea god?”

Laughter sloshes through his ears. “I’m not a god.”

“Then fuck you. Give ‘em back.”

“Rude, rude.” The weight presses harder, the firm outline of long coils. “I was going to kill you,” the voice tells him, and he’s floating back towards the light. The sun above smudges the expanse below him until he can’t see anything. “But you’re interesting, so I won’t. Not now. Tell me why you’re crying, and then I’ll give you what you deserve.”

He pushes out the last of his breath with all his curses, “I’m going to live forever. You’d wish you killed me.”

“Is that so?”

Iwaizumi wakes up with his breath short in his mouth. He wipes the sweat from his face with his shirt and flops back, checking the picture by his bedside to make sure it was all a dream.

The morning sun illuminates a wet trail leading out the back door and the flash of scales across the pond.

* * *

 

Iwaizumi allows himself to come closer to the pond, and Oikawa doesn’t seem to mind. He complains about the pond being too cramped, and how Iwaizumi isn’t even overfeeding him if he really wants to fatten him up, but Iwaizumi just rolls his eyes through it all. Oikawa’s kind of annoying, with a bratty voice and his unending, hungry curiosity, but Iwaizumi’s spending more time by the pond regardless. He’s never spent this much time in his backyard before.

One time, his foot slips in the mud and he topples into the pond.

The world before him is warped and pulsing, and he breathes out bubbles instead of air. Up is where the sun is shining its last rays of the day, and Iwaizumi frantically kicks his legs.

The water bends as silver and turquoise spirals around him, and Oikawa is blocking the sun. He looks so amused, and his mouth opens to rows of sharp fangs as he laughs.

Iwaizumi goes tense all over as a balloon of air knocks against his throat. There’s no way he could escape in time when he’s already surrounded. Outswimming a mermaid is impossible. Not when it’s this close.

Maybe this is how the fish that the fishermen drag up in their huge nets feel right before they face death.

Something hits his leg hard, and everything’s a blur. The sun is closer to swallow him in its light, and Iwaizumi breaks through the water and hits the shore. The breeze carries the scent of algae, and he’s tired of his head bouncing. A stream of water dribbles out of his mouth, and as the balloon expands, Iwaizumi rolls over and spits the rest out.

“Your landing’s mediocre,” comes a voice behind him, and Iwaizumi catches Oikawa lounging on the edge of the pond.

“You didn’t—“ Old pond water is slimy in his throat, “—thought you’d kill me.”

“I thought about it.” Oikawa’s eyes glitter in the shadows of the withered trees, something wrong and foreign in the waters. “Sharks are too oily and whales are too fat. But humans, they’re all firm meat. Lots of blood, nice and chewy. A good human can feed us for months— years, even. And someone’s always going to try to catch us— a good meal that delivers itself.”

Iwaizumi feels a shiver across the hairs on his arms as Oikawa towers over him. “You’re a strong human.” Claws rake his face, almost gently. “Even without me, you’ll live for a long time. But if you feel like dying, give yourself to me. I bet you’ll be delicious.”

He catches Oikawa’s hand on his cheek and presses it close. “I’ll think about it.”

* * *

 

A volleyball is in the middle of the water.

He takes one step towards the pond before long claws cage the ball from below. He stops short and grumbles, “Give it back.”

Oikawa swims out of reach the moment Iwaizumi tries to grab it. It bounces it off his fingers, the vague semblance of a toss, before he tries to drag it down into the lake. A few seconds later, he resurfaces, clinging to the ball. “It doesn’t drown.”

“It’s not alive, idiot.”

“I know that,” Oikawa scoffs indignantly. He drums the ball across his claws and rolls it along the length of his tail. Iwaizumi watches him and feels his face grow tighter. It almost looks like fun.

“Iwa-chan’s not from around here.”

“I moved here a few months back.”

“I thought so.”

“My accent’s not that different.”

“Miyagi’s still far away.”

Iwaizumi sees the black smear of writing on the side of the ball, once bright and proud and now a smudge.

His phone rings from inside the house. It blares out the Godzilla roar once, twice, before Iwaizumi moves his feet. He doesn’t run, but this is the fastest he’s ever walked.

* * *

 

It’s become an evening ritual to bring Oikawa into the house for dinner. Oikawa still jumps into his arms and tests if he can snap them this time, but Iwaizumi isn’t going down yet.

Turns out Oikawa prefers raw meat, but he’s become oddly fond of sweet things these days. There must not be many sugary things underwater.

Somehow along the way, they’ve started talking. Eating in silence had gotten boring, so Iwaizumi started asking questions. The first few answers were just glares and hisses, but Oikawa slowly began answering with longer sentences. Now it’s hard to shut him up.

It’s like eating at home with friends again. Hanamaki would bring a pot, Matsukawa would bring the vegetables, they’d all split the cost of beef, and chat into the night. He missed this.

“So you’re a snake, right?”

Oikawa glares at him. “A _snake_?”

“You don’t have a leaf-shaped tail, so you’re a snake.”

“A leaf-shaped tail,” Oikawa flatly repeats. “Your brain’s no better than a sponge.”

“Alright, so you’re not a snake. What are you supposed to be then, an eel?”

“I’m not an eel! I’m _special_. I look like my mother— a Messenger from the Sea God’s Palace.”

“An oarfish.”

Oikawa puffs up, proud. “Oikawa-san is very popular, you know. Mermaid flesh on one side, emissary on the other— everyone wants a taste of me.”

“I thought mermaids don’t eat other mermaids,” Iwaizumi says, unsure. He’s really not used to all this youkai stuff, but if he acts like he’s uncertain, Oikawa will make fun of him.

“Not really. But if a mermaid eats a Messenger, they get their place. And powers.”

Iwaizumi’s mouth goes dry. “Has anyone tried?”

“I’m alive, aren’t I?” He flaps his tail in the water, smug. “Tobio-chan tries, but who knows if he wants to worship me or eat me. He’s too stupid to figure it out. And Ryuujin’s stupid son keeps trying to tell me to live up to my heritage. He doesn’t want to eat me, but ugh, he’s just as annoying!”

“Aren’t you tired of people trying to get to you all the time?”

“People trying to kill me is proof that I’m strong!” Oikawa’s fins droop as he draws in a small breath. “But it is getting a little old.”

“Guess your friends don’t stick up for you much.”

“I’m popular,” is all Oikawa says, too fast to be natural. He’s looking at the space next to Iwaizumi, and his smile is stiff on his face.

“Bet you’re real annoying, with your pretty face.”

Oikawa’s tail stops flapping, and he blinks slowly. “You think I’m pretty?”

“Uh— yeah. Yeah.”

“What a charmer,” Oikawa contently hums.

“Hey, how long do you mermaids live, anyway?” Iwaizumi asks to ignore the heat rising in his face.

“If nobody hurts us, we can live for centuries. Some of the elders have been around since the Heian era.”

Iwaizumi’s mouth turns to chalk in seconds. Maybe he hasn’t thought of it enough, because forever was just supposed to be beyond the horizon. It’s around the earth and then some, and too far for him to measure.

He can feel Oikawa’s frown on him, and shoots back a frown of his own. “What?”

“You’re not going to ask how old I am?”

“Does it matter? Old, probably.”

“You’re so simple.” Oikawa flips his lips into an open smile, and Iwaizumi feels a pang of happiness between his ribs. The sunset casts a pink wash across Oikawa’s silver scales and all Iwaizumi can think of is how mermaids aren’t supposed to be beautiful.

He can’t stop looking at the flutter of light in the tucks of Oikawa’s hair, and how charming his smile is, and how one day the dead pool will be empty and the house will be hollow once again. The thought stirs up a fuzziness in his chest that widens and widens until the summer evening turns into winter.

Oikawa’s scales are wet and hard, and his breath is warm in the crook of Iwaizumi’s shoulder. He is strong and firm and he’s the most uncomfortable thing Iwaizumi has fit between his arms before, but he doesn’t want anything else right now.

“What are you doing?” comes Oikawa’s voice in his ear, smug and teasing with a thin note of confusion. “Are you trying to squeeze me to death?”

When Iwaizumi doesn’t answer, Oikawa sighs and tries to mimic the hug.

They don’t let go for a long time.

* * *

 

“You’re home early today.”

“Yeah, boss said the sea’s been too strange. Said it’s sign of a bad storm.”

“Is that so?” Oikawa looks up at the gray clouds that have hung overhead for days.

“Well, I’m home now. I’ll have to tolerate your presence, I guess.”

“You should be honored to be talking to the great Oikawa-san!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He brought beer, but it’s probably not the best idea to give alcohol to something inhuman. Oikawa makes a fuss, but he eventually settles on watching Iwaizumi drink.

They talk about Iwaizumi’s job and ocean politics, and Oikawa gets so huffy at Iwaizumi insinuating that he probably looks weird compared to regular mermaids that he thwacks Iwaizumi with his tail.

“It’s been too long since I could talk like this,” Iwaizumi says along the edges of his drink. He feels the blood in his cheeks, and his gums are numb. “Y’know, with friends.”

“You never invite anyone over.”

“Not going to with a mermaid living in my pond.”

“You wouldn’t have brought anyone over before, either.”

“Yeah,” he admits. “Probably not.”

Oikawa quirks his lips and his tail wriggles in the water, kicking up ripples. He puts his chin on his hands and creeps a little further out of the water. “How come those two other friends never visit?”

“Which two?”

“The two in the picture by your bed.”

There’s only one picture on Iwaizumi’s nightstand— one of him, Hanamaki, and Matsukawa all posing with their volleyball uniforms and high school diplomas. They’re all smiling, but Iwaizumi can’t bring himself to throw the picture away.

“They can’t.”

“Is this a distance thing? You all have those mechanical beasts, the land’s not small, but with those you can almost go as fast as we can swim—”

“They’re dead.”

Oikawa stiffens, the faintest, “Oh,” on his tongue.

“We were driving along the shore. Truck driver had a heart attack at the wheel, and I saw the truck too late. It crashed straight into us. I was lucky,” he doesn’t believe the word, but he can’t think of what else to call it, “and got knocked out of my seat onto the road. They weren’t. Truck sent the car over the edge and into the sea.”

When he woke up again with burnt rubber in his nose, he saw a truck on the side of the road, a broken guardrail, the green car nowhere in sight, and the water crashing below.

“It was too late. I know there’s nothing I could’ve done, but fuck, it was my car and my friends. And they’re gone, straight into the sea. I couldn’t stay there.” Their hometown was exactly the same, but he couldn’t go anywhere without thinking about how his friends drank vending machine tea here or walked down a path there. He kept seeing them in the corners of his eye and the shadows of the stores. He tried to think of the good memories they shared, but all it did was tear open gaps he didn’t know existed.

Oikawa’s eyes have gone sharp, and he looks all over Iwaizumi’s face. “Then why did you move to a town off the sea, then?”

“Because I didn’t feel like rotting. Or dying. And if I was going to hate the sea, then I was going to stare at it until it didn’t do anything to me anymore.”

“Stubborn.”

“Yeah. It worked, you know. A little.” He doesn’t hate the sea anymore, but he still aches when he knows he’s perfectly healthy. He misses them, and he’s going to keep on missing them. “But I’m wondering when it stops feeling like a knife and more like a dull punch.”

Oikawa’s mouth twitches. “Don’t think I know the answer to that.”

Time. And he didn’t know if he’d ever have enough.

“You’ve heard of Yaobikuni?”

Oikawa snorts, flippantly crashing his tail on the rocks. “They only know her when they should fear us.”

Yaobikuni, the nun that lived for 800 years. She accidentally ate the flesh of a mermaid, and it granted her eternal youth and longevity. As the years passed on, all the people she knew and loved began to die, but she stayed young and beautiful. Filled with accumulated grief, she decided to become a nun and wander the countryside. In the end, she returned to her hometown, where her soul finally left her.

“Saw a short on TV about her, and then I thought of mermaid flesh.” He didn’t even know if mermaids were even real, but he had to try. He’d hate himself if he just allowed himself to wallow. If they weren’t real, he’d just have tried something else.

“Does Iwa-chan want to become the second Yaobikuni?”

“Guess so.”

“Her story’s a sad one, you know.”

“That stuff doesn’t bother me anymore.”

Oikawa puffs up his cheeks. “Don’t you humans believe in being reborn?”

“Yeah. But I don’t know, they might have already been reborn somewhere else. It’s too late for me to see them again.”

“So you want to live forever? You could end up feeling terrible forever, too.”

“I’m out of options.”

“You still want to kill me?”

“I don’t know anymore,” Iwaizumi softly admits.

* * *

 

Iwaizumi hasn’t talked to anyone in years, not really, but the mermaid in his pond is snippy and thinks too highly of himself and has schemes behind his fangs. It’s familiar and terrifying, but Iwaizumi has missed this. He missed people making fun of him without malice, sharing his food with someone not out of politeness, talking about small, dumb problems and laughing them all off.

Now that he’s actually looked at Oikawa, really looked at him, it’s hard to stop. He scrunches his nose up when he’s upset, and the long silky fins where human becomes fish are a light turquoise he’s only seen on summer yukata before.

The skin beneath his hands is too rough to be human. Iwaizumi rubs a finger along the space where the long turquoise fin begins to jut out from Oikawa’s spine and feels Oikawa breathe. Needlepoints trace his shoulders, but don’t puncture. Oikawa’s hair is soft, and smells like salt and the sea.

“Iwa-chan’s been so touchy lately.”

“It’s been a while.” It doesn’t matter that their bodies are incompatible, because Oikawa still fits perfectly into his arms like this. “Do you mind? I can stop.”

Oikawa’s hair tickles his chin as he shakes his head. “This is fine.” He pauses, and asks, “Do you still want to live forever?”

“Yeah, I do. But— not if I have to kill you.”

Oikawa’s fins swish as he chuckles. “You didn’t kill me before.”

“I was a coward back then. But now I don’t want to.” One day they’ll have to part again and divide land and sea, but that’s a farewell. He can live with the ache of knowing that Oikawa’s out there, somewhere. Death is permanent and irreversible. “Humans aren’t supposed to live forever, so, whatever. I’ll figure it out. Grow old and die just like everyone else. It happens.”

Oikawa makes a keen noise at the back of his throat. He goes tense for a moment, and then all the stiffness flows out of him. “You know, it’s okay if you eat a little bit.”

Iwaizumi nearly drops Oikawa to the floor as his heart races. “I said I wouldn’t—”

“You don’t have to eat _all_ of me. You think I’m just going to let anyone kill me? I’m giving you a little chunk.”

Iwaizumi just looks at him, lost for words. Oikawa matches the gaze for some time, but his tail starts to creep around himself. “Now I feel stupid with you staring at me like that.”

“Sorry,” he fumbles, tongue still numb. “I mean, are you sure? This is…” He’s never been the wordy person, and can’t find the right term. “…You know. A lot.”

“I know,” Oikawa mumbles.

“Any side effects?”

“Might make you a little tired.”

“I—”

“Iwa-chan, hand me a knife.”

Iwaizumi’s hands shake as he disinfects the blade. The first time was no problem at all, because it didn’t mean anything.

Oikawa handles the knife carefully, testing out the weight and the sharpness of the blade. He shifts his tail, inspecting which parts would be best, and takes a deep breath. When the knife digs into his tail, it brings blood and a shaky whine. He scrunches his mouth in pain but he plunges the knife deeper. Blood spills over silver scales, and his silky tendrils are jerking with contained pain, but Oikawa continues cutting.

“Oikawa—” Iwaizumi starts. He’s not the one in pain, but his chest is heaving, and he’s trembling all over.

Oikawa chops him with a glare, and his voice cracks as he squeezes out, “Don’t you dare.” His hands grip the handle hard and with one last breath, completes the bloody circle.

The knife clatters to the floor as Oikawa pries the chunk out of his body. Between dark red are dented silver scales and pink flesh soft enough to still be breathing. He holds it out, and with a shaky breath, commands, “Eat.”

The raw meat is too pink to be fish, and it fits snugly into the dip of Iwaizumi’s palm. He gulps, and bites into it. It’s a little oily, but all sweet and warm. It’s the best thing he’s ever tasted, and he bites and bites until there’s nothing but a chipped scale in his hand.

Iwaizumi catches Oikawa around the waist and pulls him close, pressing their heads together. Oikawa’s hair sticks to his forehead, but he doesn’t brush it away. Asking if he’s okay doesn’t feel right. “Hang on, I’ll be right back, I’ll get the first aid kit—”

“Blood,” Oikawa demands, breathy and tired, and Iwaizumi doesn’t hesitate before bringing the blade to his arm.

It hurts more than anything he’s ever felt, but this is nothing. It’s a small cut, not a chunk of flesh. He holds his arm out, slick with blood, and urges, “Go ahead. If you want more, tell me.”

Oikawa’s body ripples as he dives towards Iwaizumi’s arm and sinks his fangs into the wound. Blood flows into Oikawa’s mouth, and Iwaizumi winces and shoves his scream down his throat. Oikawa’s hot breath sliding over open flesh sends prickles down Iwaizumi’s spine, but he doesn’t dare pull away.

Agonizingly, Oikawa draws back and wipes the blood away from his mouth.

“Do you want more? I can—” Flesh for flesh. “If you’re hungry, I don’t mind—”

“Maybe some other time,” Oikawa mumbles. He coils himself around Iwaizumi and drops down to the floor. “I’m tired.” The open wound on his tail has stopped bleeding.

He carries Oikawa back to the lake, feeling rough scales against his skin and grateful that he didn’t have to give this all up.

Mermaid flesh is supposed to grant eternal life and eternal youth, but the same dark rings stretch under his eyes. The veins on his hand still pop out and look old under the bathroom light. His skin might be a little bit smoother, a little bit tighter, and he’s still a young man but not young enough.

Maybe it was just a myth. Maybe Yaobikuni never spoke to anyone, and her story was blown up over time.

The taste of Oikawa’s flesh still lingers on top of his teeth.

* * *

 

Iwaizumi wakes up to sirens and someone pounding on his door. He scrambles to put regular clothes on and rushes to the door, but the floor rumbles before he gets close. A strong shaking jostles the house as books fall off the shelves behind him.

He throws his weight against a wall until the shaking subsides, and someone curses on the other side. His boss is standing there, his car behind him. “Iwaizumi, I’ve been calling you for hours!”

“I was asleep.”

“Through all of that? How— oh, never mind, I got to you in time. Grab your stuff and hurry, we have to get to higher ground, now!”

“Why?” Iwaizumi asks, as a siren screeches through the air.

“Didn’t you hear the announcement? The whole town’s gone already. Tsunami’s coming!”

He’s dealt with typhoons, but his hometown wasn’t by the shore. Stories on the news, far removed from his normal life, was the only exposure he had.

“I can wait a few minutes. I’ll drive you out of here.”

All his limbs have gone numb, but his mind is only thinking of Oikawa.

“Thank you, sir. But— I have something to do. I don’t want to keep you. Please, go ahead.”

His boss looks him over, bewildered. Finally, he claps a hand on Iwaizumi’s shoulder. “You’re a good kid. Don’t do something stupid and die.”

“I won’t,” Iwaizumi promises.

He turns and flies past the TV, where the morning news is still playing.

_As of 6:49, a tsunami alert has been issued from Kamaishi to Tanohata. There was a magnitude centered off the coast of Miyako, where the focus was at a depth of 12km. The meteorological agency has encouraged people to evacuate to higher ground. Please move away from the shorelines. Please do not go to the shorelines—_

“Oikawa!” he yells across the dead trees and the still pond. “Oikawa, wake up!”

The pond comes to life as Oikawa drags himself out of the water, wide-eyed and frantic. “It’s like when Ryuujin gets angry— Iwa-chan, this place is going to be underwater soon, the sea is coming—”

“I know. Come on!” Iwaizumi scoops Oikawa up and throws his tail across his back. There’s no time to cover him up, there’s never enough time.

Sirens screech last warnings into the air through an empty town. A cloud of birds take to the air, cawing and screeching.

“Are you stupid?” Oikawa screams louder than the crying gulls. “High land is that way!”

Oikawa can’t come onto high land and wait out the disaster. There’s no way either of them could explain to the rest of the town why Oikawa is so long, so inhuman, and why Iwaizumi is sticking by him so resolutely. Someone would actually kill him then. If Oikawa stays, the house will collapse on top of the old pond and trap him under ten layers of wood. If Oikawa waits, the riptide will bring the destruction back and skewer him through.

Oikawa is strong enough to fight against the waves and slip back into sea without the land coming back to hurt him. He’d be safe. It’s early enough.

Broken shells cut into his feet. One jabs deep into his heel, and he goes tumbling. Sand curls under his palm as he struggles to get up. Over the roaring sea, he hears Oikawa yelling, “Do you want to die or not? You’ll never make it back in time!”

The horizon is a lot smaller. The sea is bulging, like it’s being inflated, and a crest of foam is rushing his way. It’s too fast to outrun. He sees the dark blue, the blue that should have swallowed him up years ago.

Something inside Iwaizumi overflows, even though he’s grieved enough to dry out all his tears. He grabs Oikawa’s neck and knocks their foreheads together until they share one breath. “It’s okay,” he says as the sea gets louder. “Go ahead. I’m yours.”

* * *

 Spots inbetween blue and gray.

There’s nothing to lean on, and he goes tumbling.

* * *

He hated the sea. Swirling, merciless, fickle.

In a way, it’s beautiful, enough to take his breath away. 

* * *

Where are his limbs? He’s missing something. His fingers feel like a far-off dream.

But there is sea-glass and white fangs.

Maybe he’s not missing anything at all. 

* * *

 

Iwaizumi sucks in a breath of air. The sky stretches gray above him, and something hard dig into his back. A lukewarm breeze washes across him, and seawater tickles his feet. He’s not sure where he is, or where his clothes are.

His vision is starting to blur when there’s a splash next to his ear and Oikawa bends over him. “And you’re finally awake.” Oikawa’s silky fins faintly tickle his chest.

“I—“ His voice is rusted over. “I’m alive?”

“Now, yeah.”

“I died?”

“At least three times. Because that’s what happens when a dumb human charges straight into a tsunami.” Oikawa’s nose twists up. “I had to drink the water from your lungs. Blegh.”

“I’m alive,” Iwaizumi repeats, the words numb in his own brain.

“Of course you are. You ate mermaid flesh, what did you think would happen?”

“I didn’t think it worked.”

Oikawa bursts out laughing, and his tail thrashes in the water as he doubles over. “You shouldn’t hurt yourself thinking. You didn’t think it worked!” He takes a few deep breaths and settles into the rocks. “Well, it did. And that’s the only reason we’re talking right now.”

His hand finds Oikawa’s tail, and runs down smooth scales. Oikawa grins and puffs up. “All healed up!”

Iwaizumi just blinks when Oikawa throws a peace sign in his face. His brain’s still asleep at the bottom of the sea. “How…?”

“Thanks to you, of course. Normal humans are just a delicious meal. But a human that ate mermaid flesh is immortal— I thought it might be some good medicine. And it worked! Well, even if it didn’t,” Oikawa props himself up, his claws gentle on Iwaizumi’s face, “You were delicious.”

“Good to know I’m tasty.”

“Oh good, your commentary is back. And be happy! There’s nothing that matters more.”

A groan escapes his mouth as Iwaizumi tries to sit up. He knows the town is behind him, but he can’t see anything more than rooftops. He starts to tell Oikawa to get into his arms, but his arms are numb and the sea is here.

“Guess my 800 years start now.”

Oikawa is a splash of color in dark waters, and Iwaizumi wants to tell him not to go, but he’s kept Oikawa long enough. He presses Oikawa’s claws to his body, feeling how cool they are one last time.

“I’ll find you again, Iwa-chan. Sometime. But don’t shove me in a tiny pool, okay?”

“I won’t,” he says, and finally lets go.

**Author's Note:**

> Ningyo are pretty scary, very different than their European counterparts!  
> Also the Yaobikuni legend is a personal favorite of mine, so I couldn't resist.  
> Now featuring some gorgeous art by [Ever!](http://evercelle.tumblr.com/post/168250953665/i-read-yaobikuni-weeks-ago-and-have-been-haunted)


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